There is a chance after all that he isn't dead. The same could be said for Curtis.

I've always liked Tony's character. Hell, I met him at the Kentucky Derby after they had finished filming Season 2 or 3. He was drunk off his ass and gave me $75 for opening the door and being nice to him and his entourage, but I still got to meet him and shake his hand and tell him how much I loved the show.

You will recall that when lovable Edgar Stiles (Louis Lombardi) died in the episode right after Tony Almeida took his last breath, there was a sad, sad silent clock that marked the passing of our favorite CTU analyst.

There was no such clock when Tony died in Jack's arms and this was deliberate, executive producer Howard Gordon wrote in an e-mail to The Times this afternoon.

"We didn't give him the silent clock because we always wanted to keep alive the possibility for some kind of (admittedly) miraculous resurrection ... which we will explain," Gordon wrote. "He's definitely NOT the Almeida we once knew."

And we've all noted this before: The only sign of finality on 24 is the silent clock. Unless you're a bad guy or a disposable character, in which case you are just plugged with bullets or nerve gas or nuclear waste.

Did they ever kill off Chase from Season 3, or did he just go away when they thankfully decided that the lovely Elisha Cuthbert (hot as hell, but her acting makes Jessica Alba seem like Meryl Streep) could offer nothing further?